The opinions expressed here are my own, not someone else's. If they seem rational, that's purely coincidental and you are likely reading far too much between the lines.

Friday, 30 April 2010

Change Begets Change

Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. I've not blogged in a couple of months amid the whirlwind of change that has become my life. I often feel more than a little in over my head these days.

Change is inevitable so best to embrace it, make it work in your favor. That being said, it's important to choose the path forward carefully, and the company you keep, wisely. It's all too easy to make a wrong turn or to pick up bad habits. Can you say gambling?

My life was on a very steady course up until the time I left IBM. That particular radical change was the beginning of many to follow; it was voluntary and good even in hindsight. But it was carefully planned like the rest of my life. The demise of my partner of 27 years, on the other hand, was untimely, arbitrary, and beyond my control. Such things make one reconsider life's carefully laid plans. It's clear that time is fleeting and that one must make the most of today because there is no guarantee for tomorrow. Workaholic Ed died and the phoenix that rose from his ashes took a really good look around. Guess what? There really is time for me to swim 2km every weekday morning. Go figure!

Looking around a little further, I discovered that I have the greatest neighbors in the world. Okay, granted Warren is a bit of a princess.

So's Linda come to think of it.

But they've helped me more in the last year and a half than one could reasonably expect from another human being. For example, they've looked after my girls for countless weeks whenever I traveled; the girls love it next door. Last week, they even threw a birthday party for Else, the most recent addition to my dog collection.

Most important of all, they've helped make my Frank feel more than a little welcome in his new home in Canada.

Warren and Linda are the epitome of what it means to be good friends and I consider myself fortunate for having them in my life.

Looking around further still at what's happening with modeling at Eclipse and beyond is also eye opening the the extreme. Talk about change that begets change! I'm more than a little gratified and relieved to see that it's taken on such vibrant life of its own. I don't need to obsess quite as much about driving the vision of modeling forward. There are so many others who do that job even better. I've learned an important lesson: don't push the river, it follows by itself! As Kim so aptly put it: Eclipse is like family. What a great family and what a great place to be. Thanks Cloudsmith and itemis for helping make it economically viable for me and for all their other great contributions to the Eclipse community.

Speaking of great places to be, it struck me a few months back that I'd much rather live back in British Columbia. I grew up there. My parents, brother, and sister live there. I like the weather better there. I can grow a more interesting garden there. Frank and I can build a new life together from scratch there. I only moved to Ontario for IBM. So I bought a great property with this view.

My house is already sold, I've got a rental house lined up, and I've scheduled my move for the end of May. Of course there are more changes yet to come.

I write this blog today from Berlin, in summer like weather, as I anticipate traveling to JAX in Mainz next week where there's an Eclipse day and a Modeling day. Could life get any more interesting and exciting?

Oh yes, and it turned out workaholic Ed didn't really die, he was merely transformed into a more well-rounded version of his former self. I've spend the past several weeks porting the core EMF runtime to GWT and modifying the generator to produce GWT-enabled models and edit support on top of that runtime. It's all committed to CVS in time for M7, but I've not had time for documentation yet. Modeling in the clouds; stay tuned for yet more change.

Welcome back to BC. :) I think I can say that, even though I've only be in Canada for two years now. I'm trying to figure out where that shot is from. The mountains look coastal but it looks dryer. Anyway, you guys will have to come visit us in Nelson!

Your words resonate as usual. Sometimes it seems like I've been spending all of my time carting water uphill to try to build my own river, but perhaps we do need to learn to let it flow on its own. I can't believe I just wrote that..

*Very* excited to hear about GWT port! This could enable a bunch of really interesting stuff.

I have to say that the only reason Ed is being so kind to us is that He know's that we currently are looking after the girls and I will be driving the truck out west for him.I'm sure once the move is completed the real Ed will rear his ugly side.All kidding aside it will not be the same without Ed and Frank next door to us. They will be missed.

About Me

I lead the top-level Eclipse Modeling Project as well as the Eclipse Modeling Framework subproject. I hold a Ph.D. in Computing Science from Simon Fraser University. I have my own small company, Macro Modeling, and my work at Eclipse is funded by itemis AG.